D&D 5E Rune Knight Is The Best Fighter Overall IMHO.

[Seramus]

I would personally rather have PEG than AE. Protecting my mind is often far more important to me personally than mitigating some damage.

Or heck, be a rebel and take PEG and AE, but no Shield! There are better classes for being a Shield-bot than EK.

 

[ECMO3]

One thing I have seen work in one party really well with Absorb Elements is being used to mitigate damage from allies fireballs.

When I was playing a Goblin Ranger I would engage multiple enemies and have our Wizard fireball us, damaging me and the enemies, knowing I would often make the save and then take another half damage from AE resistance and could upcast for more damage on my attack.

That was really only 1 party we did that effectively though, but it was kind of neat and situationally useful. I don't think it would work as well on an EK because of the poor Dex save. You would be taking more damage yourself to pull it off.

 

[Stoutstien]

Rune knight proves you can have a PC option that is extremely engaging, has a lot potential meaningful choices, and isn't just pages of overwhelming choices that boil done to "pick these because they are better than the rest so the rest is dead space."

The fact that mechanically it clicks as well shows that they can infact create good content.

Not the biggest fan of slapping the Giant flavor sticker on it but that's a pretty minor quibble

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Rune knight proves you can have a PC option that is extremely engaging, has a lot potential meaningful choices, and isn't just pages of overwhelming choices that boil done to "pick these because they are better than the rest so the rest is dead space."

The fact that mechanically it clicks as well shows that they can infact create good content.

Not the biggest fan of slapping the Giant flavor sticker on it but that's a pretty minor quibble

My biggest issue with this and any embiggening effect is that the mechnics do not seem to match fiction. If you grow massively larger, why cannot you use larger weapons, and gain great deal more HP and strength like a real giant? I mean the answer is that it would be OP, but why include such fiction if you can't represent it properly?

 

[Seramus]

Not the biggest fan of slapping the Giant flavor sticker on it but that's a pretty minor quibble

Dragon, Elemental, Infernal, Demonic, and even Angelic are easy reskins. I suppose you could even go pretty far afield and do a Far Realms reskin with burning tentacles, spongey skin, mental trickery redirecting attacks, etc. Embiggening could be horrendous bloating, alien musculature, or just sprouting more tentacles.

 

[Stoutstien]

Mu biggest issue with this and any embiggening effect is that the mechnics do not seem to match fiction. If you grow massively larger, why cannot you use larger weapons, and gain great deal more HP and strength like a real giant? I mean the answer is that it would be OP, but why include such fiction if you can't represent it properly?

DnD has never handled scale well so I guess that part is expected.

Dragon, Elemental, Infernal, Demonic, and even Angelic are easy reskins. I suppose you could even go pretty far afield and do a Far Realms reskin with burning tentacles, spongey skin, mental trickery redirecting attacks, etc. Embiggening could be horrendous bloating, alien musculature, or just sprouting more tentacles.

Oh it's an easy reskin it's just irksome that they took the time to create such a squared away PC option and then fumble on the flavor.

 

[brehobit]

For -5/+10 folks, the key is landing blows and Battlemaster is the best.

Rune Knight is very cool.

• Cloud Rune is more-or-less broken, though I will say I got to use it a lot less than I expected. I generally saved it for crits, but somehow in about 15 encounters there was never a crit that happened when an enemy other than the critting one was within 30 feet of the RK (high-level game, ability on a henchman). A lower-level game with a henchman that had it has seen more use, but still not a single crit has been redirected.
• Fire Rune is "eh" in a fight. But no action cost.
• Frost Rune is fairly weak.
• Stone rune is fine, especially as a reaction
• Hill rune is amazing, though I tend to find at that level a lot of attacks aren't weapon damage and that tends to increase as you get to higher level.
• Storm rune is amazing as long as you aren't using your reaction for something else much.

Where it rocks is A) the out-of-combat abilities and B) Level 15. Where it sucks is that you have so much competing for your bonus action and frankly most fighters I've played have something useful to do with their bonus action already. I find them tricky to play in practice due to the bonus action pileup.

 

[Ancalagon]

I think the "bonus action traffic jam" is what keeps them from being OP, personally. I do agree with you that most of the runes are quite good - only frost is clearly a "don't bother" with.

I also agree that cloud rune doesn't come up as often as I expected.

 

[FrogReaver]

I think the "bonus action traffic jam" is what keeps them from being OP, personally. I do agree with you that most of the runes are quite good - only frost is clearly a "don't bother" with.

I also agree that cloud rune doesn't come up as often as I expected.

Also to consider, the bonus action traffic jam - i like how you put that - but it means bonus action attack feats are much less good.

 

[ECMO3]

For -5/+10 folks, the key is landing blows and Battlemaster is the best.

Rune Knight is very cool.

• Cloud Rune is more-or-less broken, though I will say I got to use it a lot less than I expected. I generally saved it for crits, but somehow in about 15 encounters there was never a crit that happened when an enemy other than the critting one was within 30 feet of the RK (high-level game, ability on a henchman). A lower-level game with a henchman that had it has seen more use, but still not a single crit has been redirected.
• Fire Rune is "eh" in a fight. But no action cost.
• Frost Rune is fairly weak.
• Stone rune is fine, especially as a reaction
• Hill rune is amazing, though I tend to find at that level a lot of attacks aren't weapon damage and that tends to increase as you get to higher level.
• Storm rune is amazing as long as you aren't using your reaction for something else much.

Where it rocks is A) the out-of-combat abilities and B) Level 15. Where it sucks is that you have so much competing for your bonus action and frankly most fighters I've played have something useful to do with their bonus action already. I find them tricky to play in practice due to the bonus action pileup.

IME the problem with both Storm Rune and Hill Rune is the bonus action. You have Giants might and by the time you get these Runes your PB is 3 (and almost 4) and you have second Wind on top of that even if you don't have anyhthing from your race or a feat (and most of the good races do have a bonus action option).

Additionally, you also have PB uses available for your reaction with Runic Shield and these compete with Storm Rune once you have activated it (and if you activate it you want to use it).

As a result I have found these runes to be very situational in play and I think both Cloud and Stone are generally more effective in combat.

Also, I would rate Stone Rune as substantially better than Cloud Rune as long as you have a good Constitution and actually use it. Incapacitating an enemy for multiple turns (until a save), without getting extra saves or being broken due to damage and without concentration is a very powerful control and doing as a reaction is icing on the cake. Consider this is more powerful than Psychic Lance (because it lasts multiple rounds) and arguably more powerful than Hypnotic Pattern (no concentration require, not broken by damage or allied intervention) and both of these are acqired at a higher level.